IRE day 1, here we go!

Floor interviews, new product releases, Para Latinos awards and more!

Editor’s note: The following is the transcript of a conversation The Coffee Shops crew had after the first full day of the International Roofing Expo.

Karen Edwards: Day one of the International Roofing Expo (IRE) was so busy. There were so many people walking by our booth in the lobby, our alcove. It was an incredible first day. I got to walk around the show floor doing videos with our partners in their booths, and everybody was busy. The energy was high. People are happy. There are lots of new products. The Catch All, we were in their booth, and he had four new products available for pre order, not even on their website yet, but was really cool stuff, and it's just exciting and energetic to see all the people and all the new things that are coming to the roofing industry.

Alex Tolle: We got a new R-Club member yesterday, Noreaster Roofing, and they're based out of Nova Scotia. So pretty exciting to get another Canadian R-Club member and a lot of traffic at the booth. A lot of contractors are really interested in what we do. And a lot of people taking pictures of the booth and of the interviews, kind of felt like we were celebrities up there, and they were excited to see what we were doing. 

Megan Ellsworth: I was working the sound stage, interviewing all of our partners that we work with on The Coffee Shops. And I think my favorite interview was all of them. I'm not going to say my favorite because I can't think of one because they're all so good, but some standouts were Central States Building Works and Melissa Dunson, love her. Wendy Marvin with Matrix Roofing and Home Solutions. She's amazing and really cares about her customers and has a lot to say about the industry. The show was absolutely a complete success. For day one, everyone I talked to on the soundstage said that their booth was swamped with people and that it was nice to get away and be able to sit for a minute. 

Then we went to the Brava Roof Tile hospitality. We love Brava, their roof tiles and their products are just so beautiful. And so we were really happy to support them, take some photos at their event. And then we hopped over to the EagleView hospitality and got to see our friends, Rob Soper, Piers Dormyer and all the EagleView pals. They're so great. And then we went to Polyglass and got to see Bud Polston and Steve Wadding. And it was just a really, really great night. And the Polyglass party was super fun because it was at Howl at the Moon, and they had the best music. Steve is a hoot and a half. 

Lauren White: I was one of the floor teams with Zane, and we also walked around the show floor and met with all of our partners, and everyone is always just so excited to see us in their booths, and they're excited to talk about what new things they have going on and to really highlight their booths. And this year, I feel like a lot of people wanted to give us a full booth tour. We had a full day of interviews, and our booth setup looks great. Everyone who saw our booth was talking about our setup in the alcove and excited to see what we’re up to. And we also sponsored the First-time Attendees Reception right before the ABC Supply Welcome Party, and that was a great turnout. We handed out some branded koozies that were fun and people enjoyed and then we kind of divided and conquered from there and went to different hospitalities. And the band was really great at Polyglass and we had a good time there.

Itzel Najera: I was also on the floor in interviews. It was quite an interesting morning. We got to interview SRS Distribution partners, Amparo from Latinos en Roofing and we got to meet several contractors. One of the things I really enjoyed was at the end of the day, we got to see the SRS Para Latinos awards, and it was amazing just seeing all those contractors get recognized for their hard work. We also got to go to the SRS cocktail lounge, and that was really fun. They had great music. I feel like SRS has really cool events that we go to, and I really enjoy that. 

Evelyn Witterholt: We had back-to-back soundstage interviews all day long. It never stopped. But they were all really good. And I think our booth is in a really incredible spot this year, because right when the show floor opened, we got so much foot traffic and so many people. The amount of people I saw yesterday just stopping to stare at our booth and see who we are and what we're doing was really incredible. The few times I got to walk away from our booth and come back, the amount of people hanging out in the lounge area and taking our swag was really something to see. And I'm getting a lot of good content for our social media.

Dani Sheehan: I was also on the show floor pretty much the entire day. Walked almost 20,000 steps for the day. But it was really incredible, especially being able to see everyone and everything getting set up yesterday, and the madness of bringing it all together. It was so cool to walk into the show on day one and see just how incredible it is. So many of our partners are here with us. It was really great to see everybody, and I felt like a celebrity walking around and talking to people, seeing what they're doing and talking about what’s new in the industry this year.

Jessica Bravo: Honestly, day one was amazing. I was on the show floor, and I attended Spanish sessions from GAF that Alan Lopez hosted. My favorite interview has to be with Ana Maria from CertainTeed. She was talking about how everything they offer at their booth is in English and Spanish. So, I thought that was pretty cool. And we also spent most of our day with SRS at their Para Latinos booth. Very huge success.

Zane Delucci: I had a great first day at IRE. Some of my first expeditions in general. So that was really nice. Walked around with Lauren, and my favorite part so far has been the software talks that we've had. So that includes Sales Assist, Jobba, Leap, EagleView, Estimating Edge, those companies have been really great to talk to learn from. A rose and a thorn would be loved to just talk to new folks and learn their stories. And the thorn would be, it's cold. It's very cold, but no complaints. Looking forward to day two.

In case you missed it, watch our soundstage interviews LIVE from IRE 2025 on our YouTube Channel!